Chechen refugees fight for survival

The ceremony to close the last tent settlement in Ingushetia was conducted on the territory of the former camp for Chechen refugees Satsita on June 10, 2004. Representatives of the Human Rights Center Memorial attended the action and asked head of the Russian Interior Ministry's migration department in Chechnya Asu Dudarkayev whether additional temporary accommodation centers would be organized in Chechnya for newly arrived internally displaced persons (IDPs).

"A compact settlement equipped with services and utilities has been organized in the destroyed village of Bamut for families who expressed a wish to return to the Achkhoy-Martan district of Chechnya. Panel houses have been allotted to these families. Administrative and public buildings from the tent camp Satsita - a bath-house, a school and a mosque - are being removed there too," Mr Dudarkayev answered.

The head of the Chechen migration service also assured Memorial's representatives that no dwelling tents would be in Bamut.

On June 12, Memorial's activists visited Bamut. They found two tent camps, altogether 25 tents, on the territory of the completely destroyed village. Only men live in the camps because they are not suitable for families.

There is no supply of electricity, gas and water to the village. The nearest settlements where one can buy foodstuff or be given medical care, namely the village of Assinovskaya in the Sunzha district of Chechnya and the village of Achkhoy-Martan, are situated 10 and 8 kilometers away from Bamut. Tents leak when it rains. There is nothing to heat them with as there are no furnaces. Besides, it is dangerous to chop firewood in the nearest forests as they were mined during hostilities in 2000-2001.

The problem of IDPs is well hidden from the observers and press after the closure of tent camps in Ingushetia. These people have to fight for survival in rough conditions of submountain Chechnya by themselves now.